Chapter 5 #2
The food arrived, and it was every bit as delicious-looking as he remembered.
Darryl, Billy’s husband and the chef-owner of the restaurant, was very fussy when it came to the dishes they served.
Darryl believed that good food didn’t need to cost a fortune.
Derek understood that he had been offered a number of jobs at various high-end restaurants, but he turned them down.
In addition to Café Belgie, Darryl and Billy owned and operated two other restaurants in town.
One was Greek. They had tried German and it had limited success, so they switched that location to French bistro–style food, and it did an amazing business.
Between Billy and Darryl, they had the knack of knowing what people wanted.
Harm made happy humming noises as he ate, and Derek was pleased that he was enjoying his dinner.
Derek was probably halfway through his meal when the door opened and Derek’s belly did a flip.
He paused and turned away. “That’s the guy I was telling you about.
My sometime stalker. He just stepped inside.
” Derek didn’t want to make eye contact and hoped William would either sit or just leave.
No such luck—he came right up to the table.
“Derek, it’s nice to see you,” he said as though they were old friends or something. “I checked at the library, but it was closed.”
“So you wandered through Carlisle hoping to find me?” Derek muttered, half under his breath. “What is it you want?” Derek asked. “I’m having dinner with a friend.”
William seemed to be settling in, even looking at the empty chair at their table as though he expected to be asked to join them. “I was just trying to see how you were doing.” He sounded reasonable, but Derek knew he was anything but.
“Can I help you?” Billy asked as he came up behind his stalker.
He turned. “I was just talking to my friend,” he said snippily.
“William was just leaving,” Derek said. But William didn’t move and seemed even more defiant.
Without a word, Harm stood and crossed his arms over his ample chest, glaring at William, who paled and turned toward the door.
Harm stared daggers at him until the door closed behind William.
Then he sat back down, the expression on his face changing quickly.
“Are you all right?” Harm scribbled. “He was not going to hurt you.”
Derek thought that a strange thing to say.
William wouldn’t hurt him. The guy was a little crazy and gave Derek the creeps, but he was harmless enough.
He just needed to know when to stop. Then he read what Harm wrote again and understood.
He was saying that Harm wasn’t going to let William hurt him. “Thank you for that.”
Billy made sure they had everything they needed before leaving them to their dinner once more. “When did you see him last?” Harm asked.
Derek read the note he passed over. “I don’t know.
Maybe two weeks ago at the library. Connie took care of him and told him that I was away at a conference for a few days.
Then she asked if he wanted to leave a note.
William had huffed at the time, but he left the library.
” He hated that Connie had lied for him, but he knew she was trying to help him.
Harm shook his head. “He’s a stalker, and he isn’t going to stop. You may have seen him two weeks ago, but I saw him two days ago looking at the cars where all of you park. He’s keeping track of you by watching your car.” Harm passed him the note, and Derek felt himself pale.
“What do I do? I want him to leave me alone and stop following me.” He had foolishly thought William would simply get tired of him and leave.
Derek had been professionally polite, but he hadn’t encouraged him.
Little gifts were returned, and flowers that were just left had been passed on to others.
He hadn’t kept anything from William, as far as he recalled.
He wasn’t concerned that William was going to hurt him, but the last thing he needed was any sort of trouble while he was up for library director.
“I can send him a message.” Harm looked gruff and cold. “That should scare him.”
“Harm, please. Just ignore him. I think he wants attention, and if we give him none, then he’ll find someone else to try to get it from.” At least that was what he hoped. “I don’t want you getting involved with my mess.”
Harm shook his head and flipped to a fresh page.
“It’s his mess. He is the one who made the mess, and we have to clean it up.
People like him do not just give up on their fascinations.
To him, his feelings, and what he thinks about your feelings, are real.
This isn’t some fantasy—it’s reality to him.
So who knows what he might actually do.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about something else. Something more fun. Do you play any games? I have a video game system at home. It’s the same one I got when I was seventeen, so it’s a little old, but it still works and I love some of the games.”
“Call of Duty?” Harm wrote with a grin. “We used to play that on the base for hours. Lots of people would think that we’d get enough shooting, but it helped us relax and it kept our reflexes and senses sharp.
Others played Mario Cart and things like that because they wanted something that didn’t remind them of what went on outside the base.
I used to play both. But I haven’t played any of those games since I got home. ” He passed the page to Derek.
“I have both of them. Though I don’t play Call of Duty all that often.
My mother didn’t like the shooting games.
So I bought it for myself, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.
” He shrugged. “I used to play D and D when I was in college. A group of us got together and played on the weekends. But I haven’t played all that often since then, and the group sort of fell apart after graduation. Did you have things like that?”
Harn nodded. “Lots of them. My life fell apart after my injury. I have Joe and Larry, but that was it. The Army was my family and then it was gone.”
“I get that. It was almost everything, and then within what seems like a few seconds, it gets taken away and you’re on your own.
” Derek wondered what the hell that could feel like.
It wasn’t fair as far as he was concerned.
As a country, we owed more to the people who fought to give us the freedoms we all enjoyed without even thinking. “I’m sorry for all of that.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“No, I didn’t. But it doesn’t make it right.” Derek rested his hand on Harm’s. “There should be support and help for you to get your feet back under you.”
“There is, and I have been using parts of it. But they aren’t going to help me get a new job or figure out what I’m going to do long-term. That’s all up to me.” Harm seemed sad when he wrote those words, and Derek set down his fork and waited as patiently as he could.
“We all need to start over sometimes. And I guess it isn’t all bad.
After my parents were gone, I grew a lot closer to my sister, and I learned that my big sister was a lot more interesting than I thought she was.
You get to choose the kind of life you want.
I’m sure you have skills, and there are people who will want them.
You have a job already and a place of your own.
So I’d say you’ve already started the rebuilding. ”
Harm seemed confused and then began writing. “I’m not totally sure what benefits I have.”
“Oh, that’s pretty easy to find out. The Army War College is here, and they have placement services as well as provide Army placement and benefits counseling.
So I bet if you make an appointment either on base or with the college, they can help you.
Talk to someone and make sure you’re getting all the support you need. ”
“Joe and Larry want me to go to college.” He pointed to the paper and then shrugged like he wasn’t sure.
“Why not? You can take the admission tests, and I can help you study if you want. You can decide from there. You’ll need transcripts sent from your high school as part of the application. But if that’s something you want to do, I can help with that too.”
“How?” Harm mouthed.
Derek grinned. “I’m a librarian. I have access to tons of information.
We help students prepare for college all the time.
It’s part of our community outreach. So think about the kinds of things you’re interested in, and then we can look at colleges, get the tests taken, and you can fill out applications. It’s all that easy.”
Harm sighed. “But how am I supposed to communicate with people? I can’t write everything down the way I am now. And signing is going to take time to learn.”
“But you will learn.” Derek grinned. “Just take things one step at a time. Find out what it is that you want to do, and from there, we can see about making it happen.” He finished the last of his veal milanese and sat back slightly, totally satisfied.
This had been a fantastic dinner, and from the way Harm’s eyes seemed to gloss over, he had enjoyed his as well.
Their server cleared the dishes and asked if they wanted dessert or coffee.
They each declined, and when the check arrived, Harm offered to lay his half, but Derek thanked him before paying for it and they got up to leave.
They walked to the door and Harm pulled it open, holding it for him.
Derek smiled and stepped out in the cold night, pulling his coat more tightly around him.
Out of habit, he checked both ways in case William was anywhere around.
Harm placed his hand on his shoulder, also looking around as if assessing the situation.
And Harm then walked him to his car in the library parking lot.
Once Derek was seated, Harm pulled out his phone and sent him a text message.
“Be safe. Text if you see him again or if you think he is following you.” He waved, and Derek responded with a smiley face before pulling out of the parking space, making his way home.
For some reason he felt better about this situation with William than he had in quite a while.